Laerin, still not acceptable, but closer than your dreadful first draft. See my marginalia. ALL revisions required before re-submission. This is not debatable.
—Jor Baaden, Chamberlain
GLOSS
GLOSSARY
Compiled for King Arelun Braag in the year 12 Anno Braag (1742 Anno Jorsini) by D. Laerin Votagsmere the Gold, Chief Scholar, D.Kn., J.Sc.
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(16, 18, 22, and 24 thousand words, A Brief Note on the Languages of Midcyru and this Gloss actually. And yes, I As Your Majesty has astutely observed, the brief notes I have counted.)
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written for other compendia have numbered between ten and fifteen thousand words, so I will be brief. This gloss will be approached as a reference to the preceding pages, rather than as a self-contained work of scholarship. Thus, your humble servant D. Laerin Votagsmere the Gold, D.Kn., J.Sc. will define the words and concepts herein by what the contemporaries (circa 670–680 A.J.) knew, rather than what we know now more than a thousand years later. Please note, Your Majesty, that there are a number of serious textual inconsistencies within the work that should keep us from reading it as history as the term is now understood. (For example, Kylar meets the Wolf in a mysterious otherworld. If neither of them was the scribe of this narrative, who wrote these sections? If either was the scribe, how did they read other people’s thoughts in other parts of the narrative?) Rather, this narrative should be approached as a blend of history, mythology, and adolescent wish-fulfillment. (Must all female assassins have large breasts? I rest my case.) Despite our diligence, this gloss is incomplete because our limited funding has not allowed full exploration of all previous research. Though space doesn’t permit tracing the historical movements of peoples here, Your Majesty may refer to the groundbreaking work, Ethnic, Linguistic, and Racial Moves and Mutations: Midcyru 1 A.J. to 704 A.J. The first twelve volumes should be particularly instructive. AETHELING (ay THELL ing): “Throne-worthy son,” a Khali-
(I don’t suppose this has anything to do with the king’s order that you have to pay for the preface?)
His Majesty likes large breasts. As you might have noticed from his choice of mistresses. Unless you wish this to be seen as an attack on Lady Versetti? Ground-breaking! Beautiful! I wonder who wrote…Oh. Look at that. D. Laerin Votagsmere. Hmmph.
doran prince. Khalidoran succession is determined not by birth order, but by magical and political aptitude. Each aetheling is given an uurdthan to prove his worthiness.
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of magic. Given that these worked with both the vir and the Talent, some scholars at the time speculated that magic, though evincing itself through particular cultures differently, is a unified, singular force. ALITAERA/ALITAERAN (AL eh TAIR ah): (though the pronunciation should be AL eh TIE rah, as the word is Old Jaeran. For notes on the ways Old Jaeran mixed with Hyrillic languages and morphed into our current argot, see the seminal work On the Nature and Transmission of Linguistic Anomalies From 1 Anno Jorsini to 682 Anno Jorsini) The most powerful kingdom of the south, ruled by a council of dukes and a weaker king. It has two capital cities, one in the west, one in the east. ALITAERAN ACCORDS: A set of agreements between Alitaera and the Chantry instrumental in shifting the Chantry from a temporal power to an educational, religious, magical one. Primary among the restrictions (and most frequently broken) was that male and female magi couldn’t marry, and that the Chantry would not train their magae in specifically martial magics. Individual maja frequently ignored the latter injunction or studied magics that could plausibly be used for other tasks—tiny fireballs to light cooking fires, etc. But as the Chantry was careful not to flout the rules too openly, magae who married Talented men ended their own chances of advancement. Later, the prohibition spread socially to marrying men at all. ALKESTIA/THE ALKESTIA CYCLE (al KEST ee A): The story cycle of Emperor Jorsin Alkestes. Yearly festivals are held in several cities throughout Midcyru in his honor. The telling of the stories takes between five and ten days. ARUTAYRO (Ah roo TAY row): “Bloodless.” A meeting at which both parties swear to avoid violence. BABY FARMS: Akin to orphanages, except that labor was expected of the children. Frequently, this practice turned abusive. In some infamous (possibly apocryphal) cases, those labors included prostitution and volunteering for vivisection. BASHERS: Men used by the Sa’kagé whenever muscle is needed (extortion, punishment, etc). The Basher guild takes their name from these, though they have no special connection with them. BATTLE OF JAERAN FLATS: For the purposes of this narrative, a nearly mythical conflict where one of the original Champions
Very interesting. Cut.
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of Light Corvaer the Red died, and from which his ka’kari was taken by Malak Mok’mazi (Malak Firehands). BERAA (bear AHH): The most erotic of Khalidoran dances. This style gave Khalidoran women such a reputation for loose morals that it was later claimed to be an invention of southerners. A staple of stories appealing to the exotic fascination about this northern clime, the beraa was a more frenetic dance than a rondaa. Here, the dancer would clap her hands and undulate her hips and toss her hair, all while maintaining the elaborate foot- and hipwork of the rondaa. Said to have caused two wars and innumerable duels. It is claimed that Marian Dayshar saved her expedition across the Freeze by dancing a beraa for her frostbitten men— who then marched twelve days across the wastes warmed by what they’d seen. When they arrived home, they were executed by her lover for it! See also RONDAA. BIGS: Older children in a street guild, not dependent so much on age as on size or, sometimes, position. For instance, Jarl, though small, is recognized as a big at roughly ten years of age. BLACK BARROW: A great, leagues-wide black dome, under which was buried the ancient capital city Trayethell. Believed to have been the site of Jorsin Alkestes’ last stand. Unclear whether the following was also known contemporaneously: The only (?) place where, once killed, a krul cannot be raised again. BLADEMASTERS: Pretty much what one would guess. Governed as a loose confederation. Though much has been lost over the centuries about them, one story which I believe (from Vol Trulen) says that Blademasters had a quirk that kept them from being impersonated too often: any Blademaster whose status as a Blademaster was challenged could not refuse a duel. Thus, when counterfeits sprang up, as they inevitably did as young men sought to trade-in on the Blademasters’ high standing without going to all the bother of training, real Blademasters would be dispatched and challenge them. This lesson in blood apparently needed frequent repetition, however, as His Majesty is no doubt aware from the popular ballad, “The Sting of the Rose,” which to the best of my knowledge is otherwise completely false. CAERNARVON (care NAR vin): A city, the capital of Waeddryn, it sits on confluence of the Wy, the Red, and the Blackberry rivers. At the time, a prosperous and peaceful place, not yet subject to the turmoil for which it is now infamous.
This! This! This is exactly the sort of thing the king will enjoy!
He loves that song. Don’t ruin it for him.
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Brent Weeks CALCINATOR (KAL sin ate or): An alchemical apparatus for the
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reduction of liquids to powder. CALLAE (KAL ay—again a violation of its own Old Jaeran pronunciation, which should be KAL IE—such frequent exceptions to grammatical and pronunciative rules are probably part of the cause of this generation’s sad indifference to the study of Old Jaeran, and their subsequent ignorance, folly, social ineptitude, and cultural barrenness.) CENARIA (SIN are EE ah): 1) A small country on the Great Sea, poor despite its excellent harbors due to a series of wars of succession and an entrenched Sa’kagé. Borders Khalidor to its north, Ceura to the south, and Lae’knaught-controlled territory (of what is nominally Ceura and Modai) to the southeast. 2) The capital city of Cenaria. Cenaria (the city) is divided sharply into economic lines by the Plith River. The Warrens on the west side are built mostly over a swamp, and the socially undesirable are not allowed to leave—though with corrupt guards, etc, they often do so. The east side is home to merchants, exporters, former slavers (slavery had recently been abolished by the time of this narrative), the nobility, and more prosperous traders. CEURA/CEURAN (COO RA/CUR in): Literally, The Sword. Country south of Cenaria and sometimes at war with them, though internal problems have kept Ceura from pursuing conquest on a large scale for a century. Starkly different culturally, Ceura has managed to influence Cenaria’s architecture, arts, and understanding of warfare, while not being heavily influenced in turn. Home to a warrior culture, Ceura had not yet romanticized its history into the system of ooshito that is now associated with them. Ceurans at the time were brutally experienced with the horrors of war and were most interested in winning. This interest reached its zenith in the character (now believed to be purely apocryphal), Lantano Garuwashi. CEUR’CAELESTOS: The Blade of Heaven/ Blade of Power of the Ceurans. A big magical sword. Supposedly made of diamond— but somehow it wouldn’t break? Haha. It supposedly had a fire that burned within it that would warn of danger, flaring out longer toward the point the nearer the danger was. If this doesn’t make His Majesty chuckle, I’m not sure what will. CHANTRY, THE (CHANT tree): A school of magic which was to become the premier school of magic by 300 A.J., administered
Never got around to a definition here, did you?
Like boobs, the king likes his invincible warriors. Leave it if you like, but I ask you, does it really matter?
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There are other scholars in this land. Scholars who don’t laugh up their sleeves at men— kings—who like magic swords. Be aware that most of said scholars would happily take your place, your lands, your titles, and your daughter’s doubtful remaining virtues.
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by women since 217 A.J. and only open to women since 428 A.J, at which time the Alitaeran Accords were signed by Jezrill Godan and Queen Faelan Couzon. The Chantry was housed in what was contemporaneously Ossein, though their governance was left completely to the sisters. The Chantry was housed in, if you can believe this, a floating island in the middle of Lake Vestacci crafted into the likeness of a seraph(?). The translations are unclear, but perhaps an angel? Or a ‘radiant woman’. An entire island, crafted in sculpture, that could be moved throughout a lake on magical currents. It was also called the Alabaster Seraph, the White Lady, and the Seraph of Nerev. There is no known scholarship on ‘Nerev.’ CHATTEL, THE: Led by Eris Buel, married magae. As an order of primarily unmarried women, there were often more or less subtle judgments made about those women who chose to marry. (Marriage to Talented men was forbidden, and never or rarely actually practiced at the Chantry.) Those who married generally found that their opportunities for promotion to higher ranks were stymied. The belief was that a woman could have only one spouse— and that should be the Chantry. Those who chose to submit to a husband (regardless of the actual arrangement of the marriage, it was pejoratively alleged thus) were believed to be those who voluntarily submitted to a lesser person, i.e., becoming chattel, or slaves, to non-drafters. This was viewed as a perversion of the natural order (in which magic-users, naturally, were greater than non-magic-users). CORANTI (CORE ahn tee): A later text related to this tells us that this means, “the unclean.” That translation of the Hyrillic (?) cannot be verified from secondary sources. “Durzo” and “Kylar” can see the sins that stain men’s and women’s souls. Though apparently their sensitivity to such was variable. Also, whose definition of “sin” is never clarified. Murder and the like clearly counted. “Durzo” claimed to have been able to see lies at one point, but if one thing is clear from this entire account, it is that Durzo Blint lies. CORPUSARIUM (CORE pus are EE um): A Khalidoran warehouse for bodies and bones. Not apparently for their veneration, but for their use in unspeakable rites. CRUXING: How Alitaerans at the time executed rebels and, sometimes, murderers. The condemned would hang suspended tied to
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His Majesty’s great-grandfather was cruxed. Not necessary.
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Thanks for the pronunciation guide on that one. Here I thought it was dehDUR. You are a prince among men, Laerin! You think you need inform a monarch with four thousand war horses what a destrier is? Please, leave it in. You are paying for the parchment. I’ll order more gold illuminations for the margins.
beams in an X until asphyxia set in. An agonizing, humiliating way to die. CUROCH (cure ROCK/coo ROCK): Legendary sword of Jorsin Alkestes, created by Ezra Sa’sogol, the finest Maker ever. Recovered by the Prophet and Feir Cousat, and subsequently taken ‘for safe keeping’ by the Sa’seuran. The Sword of Power. There is some connection hinted at with the Ceuran blade: Ceur’caelestos. DEADER (DEAD ur): A wetboy’s target, thus called because the target was said to be dead as soon as the contract was accepted. The actual killing could be assumed accomplished at that time. Hyperbole, but in contemporary accounts, it is clear that many people believed this. DEATH GAMES: Created by Count Drake, with an arena, food, wine, gambling; became a national obsession, entrenched the Sa’kagé. How the Sa’kagé allowed the practice to be ended is an enduring mystery. DESTRIER: Large war horse, bred not merely to carry armored soldiers, but also to fight. DIASPORA THAUMATURGICA (DEE asp OR a THOU ma TURG ick A): “Scattering of Mages”; The century after the collapse of the Shining Lands, when mages were persecuted across Midcyru. Multiple new schools were created throughout the realms, but each was crushed in turn. It is estimated that two thirds of the mages were killed. DRAGON TONGUE: Idiomatic—a magical diffuse flame, Khalidoran (?) DUST: A drug used by Khalidorans, induced euphoria, feelings of invulnerability, and sudden death. THE ESCAPE OF THE GRASQ TWINS: A popular ballad contemporaneously, believed to be mythical. Unknown if the twins referred to are the same twins in The Grasq Twins’ Doom. It is known that twins had a peculiar cultural resonance. FALTIER MOUNTAINS: Mountains along northern border of Cenaria, southern border of Khalidor; Screaming Winds is primary pass between them. The cursed Black Barrow is at the mouth of the other pass, which is farther away from Cenaria City: Quorig’s Pass. FASMERU MOUNTAINS: Mountains at base of which is Torras Bend; on southern border of Ossein, eastern border of Cenaria FEYURI (fay UR ee): Claim to be descended from Fey folk, despised for that and their pacifism. Rare by the time of this narrative. 1196
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FLETCHER: A maker of arrows, one who fletches. illiterate, not an idiot. The converse FORGLIN’S PASS: The passage between Ossein and Waeddryn. FRIAKU (FREE ah COO): Far eastern country, famous for its might be said of certain scholars.
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horse lords. FURIED : Unclear, perhaps Talented? Historical references are numerous usually to ‘furied warriors’ of Friaku, but those assume knowledge of the meaning of the word. GALERUS: A retiarius: literally a “net-man” or “net-fighter.” Sethi. GANDU/GANDIAN (GAND oo): Island nation south of Waeddryn. A reclusive nation, which housed the men’s school of healing magic. The nation and its peoples are almost absent from histories and tales both, except for its mages, who became a staple of romances for their near-mythical powers. Hero dying nobly at the end of your tale? A Gandian Hoth’salar will save the day! GAOL (JAIL): A jail in Cenaria, the Maw served as the sole gaol. It is mostly underneath the castle. This position led several kings to divert the Plith into the Maw, sometimes ‘accidentally,’ to rid themselves of prisoners permanently. That an underground prison could exist practically beneath a river is one of the key considerations that led current scholars to believe this entire history is myth. That and the busty magical assassins with god-like powers. GODKING: One of the titles of Garoth Ursuul. Direct, unbroken descent from Khalidor’s founder, Roygaris Ursuul, is claimed. Most scholars view such claims as more political than historical. GORATHI (GORE ah TEE): Revered, almost worshipped warriors of Ymmur and Friaku. The ‘furied gorathi’ are referred to, always as something to fear, never with more explanation. Evidently they were a staple bogeyman at one time, and no more explanation of their purported powers was needed. The Way of Scholars? GRAAKOS: A Khalidoran invocation that summons a shield. Why Catchy. You need to get this knowledge survives while other more useful knowledge per- out more. ished is one of the frustrations of the way of scholars. GRAAVAR HIGHLANDERS: A tribe of Khalidorans; tall, barrelchested blue-eyed savages with black hair, short mustaches, a powerful tribe. GRASQ TWINS’ DOOM: As stated before. A song. Unknown if related to The Escape of the Grasq Twins. GUILD: After the baby farms were shut down when slavery was outlawed in Cenaria, vast numbers of orphans were forced onto 1197
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the streets. Guards swept them out of the east side and confined them to the Warrens. Guilds were in the domain of the Sa’kagé, and though frequently exploited by the Sa’kagé, often it appears that the leaders of the Sa’kagé did not care for their welfare (despite having come from the guilds themselves). Generally, the guilds served as makeshift families for orphans and training grounds in their eventual trades, which were almost always criminal. GUNDER: The gold coin of the realm, named for picture of Aleine IX they bear. GURKA: A heavy, forward curving knife or short sword. HAMMERFIST: Blue cone of magic, of the kind any magus taught at Sho’fasti would know. HARAN (HAIR in): Country either east of Ymmur—which is impossible, because we know the ancient country of Ymmur borders the sea—or set in a small enclave of Ladesh, far to west and south. Chalcus theorizes that Haran fell into the sea and that a remnant sailed halfway across the world to establish a colony in Ladesh. I find Hevort more compelling: that “Haran” simply signified a people far away and exotic or barbaric or strange. I point to their tales claiming it was Home to the Haranese bull—an animal forty hands tall with iron for skin and teeth longer than There, fixed it for spears! How would such a beast chew its food? These tales tell us you. less about the purported savages they depict than they do about The king loves those who believe them. horses. Add more here. I don’t care if HAVERMERE: Ancestral estate of the Gyres in central Cenaria. you have to make Famous for breeding horses. it up. HECATONARCHS (heck KAT on arks): Priests of the hundred I suppose that having gods, they wore cloak of a hundred colors. An intriguing, shortall your priests in lived phenomenon during the growth of the worship of the One one place made God wherein it was believed a priest for any of the hundred gods them much easier could be a priest for all of them. Apparently the gods got jealous to massacre had nothing to do with and wanted to each have their own priests. it. Or was this an HERBIARY: A place devoted to the growing, and often selling, of attempt at humor? herbs. HERBS: ARIAMU (AIR ee AH moo): A poisonous root? HENBANE: Not fatal, but in combination with Kinderperil, can make a person ill for days if injected/pricked with it JACINTH SPOOR: In combination with ariamu, a slow poison
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N igh t A nge l GURI PEPPER: Used to spice food? KINDERPERIL: A poison. From “dangerous to children”?
Though apparently it could be concocted in lethal concentrations for adults, too. NORANTON SEED (NOR ant un): Unknown. PERI PERI (PAIR ee PAIR ee): In combination with Xanthos, a contact poison; in small doses, just leaves victim unconscious. PRONWI (PRAWN wee): A seed. Now lost or referred to by some other name. RAGWEED: Used for healing? SILVERLEAF: The roots are poisonous, though the leaves are often used by physickers for healing. TUNTUN SEED: Ground to powder, and breathed, will cause lungs to hemorrhage. UBDAL (OOB dull): A root. Properties unknown. XANTHOS (ZAN those): A contact poison? YARROW ROOT: Unknown. THE HOLE: Sometimes referred to more vulgarly herein. A Cenarian prison for the worst of the worst. In a pit, and then arranged around a pit with a floor sloping toward the hole, from which rose foul gases. HORAI: An island of Seth, the Takedas’ home island. HOTH’SALAR (HOATH sall ARE): Old Jaeran, “brother of healing.” Also referred to as Green mages. Their school, Hoth’salarium is in the city of Horachi. HOUSES: A slippery concept in Cenarian history, as the noble houses of Cenaria saw great tumult for centuries—new houses added, old houses destroyed. The Makells had been a noble house for three hundred years, and were destroyed shortly before this narrative, and of course, several new houses were created by the end of this narrative, which I had redacted at your Chamberlain’s direction. HYRIL (HERE ill): Ancient capital city of the Shining Lands. Believed mythical. HYRILLIC (HERE ill ick): Having to do with Hyril, but usually used to refer to the language, though the people of Hyril didn’t speak it. In Jorsin Alkestes’ era, Old Jaeran was the vulgar tongue. It is believed Hyrillic was a scholarly language, or a thaumaturgical one. Few people in the world, if any, now speak or
The king is no wilting flower, you can call it Hell’s Asshole.
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read Hyrillic. Apparently it was rare but not forgotten at the time of this narrative. Fragments remain in vocabulary, but the grammar has disappeared. IAOSIAN FOREST (eye O shun): Also known as Ezra’s Wood, near the town of Torras Bend, nominally part of Waeddryn. Where the Archmage Ezra the Mad disappeared roughly fifty years after the fall of Jorsin Alkestes. Reputed to be the home of monsters. Many attempts to go into the wood, first to investigate, and later to recover magical artifacts the earlier efforts had carried in all failed. Everyone who went in simply vanished. Home of supposed Dark Hunter. IURES (YOUR ace): Old Jaeran meaning, “the scepter or staff of law.” A magical artifact created by Ezra the Maker. Lost. (There is some debate about whether Ezra the Maker was the same person as Archmage Ezra the Mad, with this scholar believing there Write now. Beg were two men, possibly related, possibly the latter merely wished later. to evoke a kinship with the former. Otherwise Ezra would have had an incredible lifespan. Although it is also possible that the histories referring to meeting Ezra long after the Alkestes era were themselves fanciful. I hope Your Majesty may fund further exploration of this exciting area of study!) JAERA: Either a hero or a dragon. Ancient even to those we consider the ancients. Details lost. JAERAN, OLD (JAIR ran): Used in reference either to the Jaeran Plain east of Ceura or to the Old Jaeran language. Less commonly refers to the present day common language of almost all Midcyru. (Note: Though this is the second time in this gloss wherein the Old Jaeran ‘ae’ followed by an ‘r’ gives the ‘air’ sound, this is not, despite the claims of some scholars, because ‘Jaeran’ and ‘Alitaeran’ are actually Hyrillic words. Instead, as my own studies have proven, these are merely Old Jaeran used so This is exactly the commonly that the masses have changed the pronunciation kind of drivel you through sheer repetition of their mistakes—as the verb ‘to be’ filled the first ‘brief note’ with. often has the most irregular forms. Cf. “Glottal and Epochal King Braag wants a Revolutions through the Hyrillic/Alitaeran/Khalidoran Foundstory, not a cure for ing with Special Reference to Migrations following the Diaspora insomnia. Thaumaturgica” by D. Laerin Votagsmere, D.Kn., J.Sc.) KARIAMU LODOC (CARE ee AM oo la doke): A Hyrillic phrase accompanying obeisance without exact translation, a formal apology and acceptance of consequences. How an undereducated
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N igh t A nge l wetboy in Cenaria learned it is the kind of thing that keeps linguists up at night. KA’KARI (ka CAR ee): A Hyrillic word, either singular or plural. Translation unclear. Highest orb(s) of ______? Magical artifacts possibly created or discovered through the use of both Curoch and Iures together? Or those artifacts were made through the use of the ka’kari? Ezra was reputed to be involved with both, as was Jorsin Alkestes. This scholar finds it impossible to choose between the conflicting reports, all of which seem equally unlikely. BLUE: Gaelan Starfire threw into the sea, creating the Tlaxini Maelstrom. WHITE: Lost for 6 centuries (Garoth Ursuul’s grandmother disproved that it was held in the Chantry). GREEN: Taken to Ladesh by Hrothan Steelbender and lost, 220 years before this narrative. RED: Cast into the heart of Ashwind Mountain (referred to as Mount Tenji in Ceura) by Ferric Fireheart, or by Gaelan Starfire. SILVER: Lost during the Hundred Years’ War, could be anywhere from Alitaera to Ceura, unless Garric Shadowbane destroyed it. BROWN: Rumored to be at the Maker’s school in Ossein. (Many additional details redacted from this list by request of the Chamberlain. Over my objections.) KA’KARIFER (ka CAR ee FUR): A bearer of a ka’kari. Perhaps also one who is capable of bearing a ka’kari. KHALIDOR/KHALIDORAN (KAL eh DOOR, KAL eh DOOR an): Country north of Cenaria and south of the Frozen Lands. Founded by Roygaris Ursuul after he betrayed Jorsin Alkestes. The Godkings claim direct descent from Roygaris himself, which is dubious. Khalidor had reduced Lodricar to a client state, and gradually absorbed it. None but the official records survive, and even those have been purged repeatedly, giving scholars precious few glimpses into Khalidoran history. It was apparently once much more prosperous than at the time of this narrative, with ancient mentions of rich farmland rather than tundra, and no mention of the ice sheets of the north. When Hizikirin made his dogsled explorations, he claimed to have found port cities far north of even the Ghostgate Ruins—ports now completely encased in ice. As best we can guess, Khalidor was made
And chamberlains laughing. Erase.
Do you know what we call those who spoil stories for His Majesty? Homeless.
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Brent Weeks of a blend of the ruling class who came after the fall of Jorsin Alkestes, the Lodricari, the mountain and lowlands clans, the Feyuri, and the River People—about whom nothing is known. Clans we know about: CHURAQ HRAAGL: Guarded the Khalidoran baggage train. IKTANA: A mountain tribe of climbers. QUARL KHALI: A goddess of Khalidor. The rather more extensive descrip-
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tion has been redacted by order of the Chamberlain. KHALIRAS: The capital city of Khalidor; with extensive caverns deep beneath and around the city that have been mined for 700 years; the ore is said to be magical. KHALIRIUM: The very room in which Khali resides. KHALIVOS RAS EN ME (KAL ee vos ROSS on may): Khalidoran prayer: “Khali, come and make your home in me.” KRUL: Entirely mythical. However, Your Majesty should understand that the people in this story DID believe in their literal existence. At least some people did. At least by the end of the narrative. Monsters created by Khalidorans, perhaps by Khalidoran V�rdmeisters. Depending on the skill of the creator, could be made into the shape of horses, wolves, tigers, mammoths, fire ants (? I confess, this last makes no sense to me whatever), large frogs – they each hold a Stranger; originally called the Fallen, apparently because they can be raised again when they die. KRUL: A meister can lead twelve krul himself, but needs a white krul, that is a daemon, to lead more (13 krul equals a squad). DAEMONS: One daemon allows a Meister to control more than 13 individual krul. 13 Daemons equals a platoon. BONE LORDS: Smarter, capable of speech, and can use a dark representation of talent or something like it. If raised, they allow a meister to control more than 13 squads, or 1 PLATOON. FIENDS: The raising of 13 platoons requires a Fiend; 13 fiends makes 1 LEGION. ARCANGHUL: Allows the use of 13 legions to create 1 ARMY; one of which was used by Godking Roygaris to conquer what remained of the Freeze.
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N igh t A nge l NIGHT LORD: Necessary for the creation of more than 13
Arcanghuls. KHALI: The deity above the Arcanghuls, who killed Roygaris Ursuul and became deity of the Khalidorans, giving them the Vir. Other legendary creatures which may or may not be krul per se—a taxonomy of creatures that don’t exist being exceedingly difficult! Zel, ferali, ferozi, buulgari, blaemir, titans. LADESH/LADESHIAN (la DESH, la DEESH an): A continent country across the Great Sea. Thus far, only Sethi vessels are known to have the skill to make the voyage. They do not allow any Midcyri to make the voyage west, though Ladeshians frequently make the opposite journey and have a sizeable minority presence in several Midcyri port cities. Fantastically rich, not only through the silk monopoly, but also through efficient governance unrivaled through the modern era. LAE’KNAUGHT/LAETUNARIVERISSIKNAUGHT (LIE K’GNAW’ HT/LIE tune ARE ee VEAR iss see K’GNAW’HT [like kaknocked, but aspirated]): Militant anti-religious sect that effectively controls parts of Ceura and Modai, though it claims no interest in temporal power. (The word contains a dipthong that no longer exists in our language. The final syllable is aspirated. (Analogous to ‘knight,’ in which originally one pronounced both the k and the g.) LITTLES: The younger, and/or smaller children in a street guild. LODRICAR/LODRICARI (LOW dreh CAR ee): A country east of Khalidor, a client state, since subsumed. MAGIC: Super-normal power. Mages rely on sunlight or firelight for their power, though they can hold a small reserve beyond this. Wytches apparently have no such limitation. From whence their powers come—daemons as some claim, or elsewhere—is beyond the purview of this scholar. MAGE: User of the Talent. Technically: MAJA/MAGAE (MAH ja/MAJ eye)for a woman/women. MAGUS/MAGI (MAJE us/MAJ eye)for a man/men. MAGI is also used for groups containing both men and women, or where it is unknown. An artifact of the inflected Old Jaeran language which rarely caused problems because it only surfaces when the discussions are written.
Fancy this—an interesting linguistic note. This one can stay.
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Brent Weeks LOOP, RECURSIVE: See RECURSIVE LOOP. MAGEFIRE: Fire, used by mages. MAJA UXTRA KURRUKULAS (MA ja UX tra coo ROO kah
lass): A bush mage, a wild mage (female). THE MAW: Cenarian gaol on Vos Island, nearly underneath the
The king will be glad to hear that you aren’t one of these new-fangled demophiles. Here you seem such a man of the people. Very helpful.
That’s it? That’s the best you can do? The king will definitely ask about this. Make something up!
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What’s this, Laerin? Are you developing a spine? It doesn’t fit you. May I suggest, “The topic of this narrative.”?
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More details, please. Cut? Materials? Lady Versetti is planning a surprise for the king.
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Unlike other dungeons?
castle itself. The front gate is a ramp leading down into a demonic visage carved in jagged black rock. The worst part of this gaol was called the Hole. By all accounts The Maw was a miserable place. MEISTER (MY stir): Khalidoran, “Master [of Magic],” polite term of address for a wytch. MIDCYRU: 1) All of the known world, 2) The continent. THE MIKAIDON: Keeper of Civil order in Hokkai, akin to a shire reeve more recently. MISTARILLE (MIST are ill): A light, unbreakable metal, mythical. MODAI/MODAINI (mow DIE, mow DIE EEN ee): A fragmented country southeast of Cenaria practicing a form of anarchical predictatorship wherin the leader is the person who can convince the majority of ignoranami that he or she will give them the most of what they want while only costing other people. Then, to keep the leader from ever becoming wise and eventually ruling for the good of the country rather than for the good of his backers, they switch leaders, almost always to one from the opposite faction, every five years. In this way, present leaders can always dodge responsibility and the perpetually discontented populace can always believe new lies. MOULINA: An old Khalidoran term of affection. Or possibly contempt. MOUNT HEZERON: The tallest mountain on Ceuran border, at least 1400 feet tall. NAGIKA(NAH gee kah): A traditional dress worn by women of Seth; drapes over one shoulder, leaving one breast exposed. Less common by the time of this narrative as the Sethi interacted more with mainland cultures who apparently reacted poorly to this “immodesty.” THE NAMELESS: Another term for the Night Angel. NEPHILIM: From antiquity, mythical, the children of angels and men. NIGHT ANGEL: Upon Your Majesty’s Chamberlain’s insistence, I have reluctantly redacted this entry. 1204
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N igh t A nge l NINE, THE: The leaders of the different areas a city’s Sa’kagé con-
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trols. In Cenaria, they are the Trematir (The Master of Coin), the Urdt “The Gamesman” (gambling), the Fjidt “The Thief,” the Duergust “First Striker” (bashers), the Garjudt “The Scourge” (slaves/extortion), the Mattir “The Mother” or “The Mistress of Pleasures,” (prostitution), the Kuhluhk “Lord of Whispers” (spies), the Sahrasliss “The Master of Smuggling” and the Braavok “The Piper,” (Younglings). Note: The names are Varagoli, a preAlkestian language spoken by the pygmy Rock People who were native to Cenaria in antiquity. The language and the people now extinct. Proposals have been put forward that would allow greater research into these fascinating peoples. NINER: Derisive nickname for Aleine Gunder IX. NOCTA HEMATA: THE NIGHT OF PASSION/ABANDON/ Blood: Popular nickname for the night of the Cenaria uprising. Additional details redacted at the Chamberlain’s direction. NYSOS: God of blood, wine, and semen. The great dramatic festivals of Seth in his honor are the foundations of modern drama. Tellel suggests that these festivals were literal week-long orgies, drawing people from all over the world, at least at the height of the Sethi Empire. OLD JAERAN: See JAERAN, OLD. OOTAI (oo TIE): A popular, hot drink among the people of Midcyru. Bitter, and a stimulant. Now known as tea. Not legally available to us since Your Majesty’s great-grandfather’s trade war with the Kumare. PATR: A priest of the One God. PAVVIL’S GROVE: A small logging town near the Ceuran border. Site of the final battle between the Cenarian rebels and Khalidoran invaders. PHILODUNAMOS: A poison, an explosive? PHYSICKER: Archaic term for a physician. PIT WYRMS: A type of krul (?), allegedly called forth by Vurdmeisters from hell itself. PLANGA (PLANG gah): Tiny island nation off the southwest coast of Ceura, remarkable only for the number of sheep and the quality of its plate-glass. They discovered and kept secret the formulas for dyeing molten glass for several hundred years, but lacking the enlightened governance of Ladesh, and with a populace given to drink and poetry, they never translated wealth into power.
I see you’ve noticed the king doesn’t like Plangans, lick-spittle.
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Brent Weeks PLITH: The river that separates the two halves of the city of
Cenaria. (Or make that the one have, since the other half is the have-nots.) My apologies for the pun. Were parchment cheaper, I would grab a clean sheet—as I fear that if I rub this one clean once more it shall rip. POTENTIATION: When two drugs interact to heighten the effects of one or both of them. The chemists I spoke with don’t believe this effect was known in Midcyru at the time of this narrative. QUORIG’S PASS: A week’s travel east of Screaming Winds, a pass along the Khalidoran and Osseini border; Black Barrow lies at I won’t cut this, the mouth of the pass. Laerin. It did bring me a passing RAPTUS MORGI (RAP toose MORGUE ee): Keeper of the Dead; instant of amuseofficial Khalidoran title for the overseer of the Godking’s krul at ment. However, you Khaliras. may wish to conRECURSIVE LOOP: See LOOP, RECURSIVE. sider what will REIGUKHAS : A Khalidoran town, not far from Black Barrow. Site happen if the king believes you’re of a ruse by southern forces and the scene of a massacre for raismaking fun of ing krul. him. Your affairs RONDAA (ron DAHH): A sensuous Khalidoran dance performed are settled? Oh by women, usually for the enjoyment of their husbands, or suitgood. ors, or by prostitutes. The dancer wore a wide garment with exaggerated shoulder pieces, from which were suspended cut pieces of cloth. Under this, she wore suggestive underclothes, paint, or nothing at all. The cloth was sewn with bells which tinkled with each suggestive move of the dancers hips. The dance was otherVery nice. There’s wise typified by the contrast of the dancer’s head floating still hope for you yet, Laerin. while her hips gyrated slowly. See also BERAA. RURSTAHK SLAAGEN (RUR stock SLOG in): “The Devil of the Walls,” Khalidoran highland clans’ name for Duke Regnus Gyre. SA’CEURAI: Old Jaeran for “Sword Lords.” Title earned by young Ceuran swordsmen for killing another sa’ceurai. Though most scholars believe there must have been other ways to earn the title as well, else the sa’ceurai would have ceased to exist very quickly. SA’FASTI (SA fast ee): Old Jaeran for “Lords of Movement,” or “Lords of Music” (?). Male blue or energy mages, their school Sho’fasti is in the Alitaeran city of Jer’mai. SAI: Short sword with a narrow blade, hilts swept up in broad U for catching blade, each tine sharpened. SA’KAGÉ (SA COG ay): “Lords of the Shadows.” [But not gender exclusive.] An underworld guild, varying forms of it were present I will make sure the king notes your economy. And wit.
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N igh t A nge l
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in most Midcyri cities, but it is most organized and powerful in Cenaria. Usually governed by the Nine, whose functions differ in different cities, and a Shinga. SA’SALAR: A Lord of Healing. A title eschewed by the time of this narrative either through humility or simple recognition that the Hoth’salar’s gifts were much inferior to the Sa’salar’s. It is believed that both the first Godking Roygaris Ursuul and Ezra the Maker were Sa’salari. SA’SEURAN (SA SEWER an/SA SIR an): “Lord of Light”, 1) A fire mage. 2) All the Sa’seuri together (the grammatically correct plural ‘Sa’seuri’ had already fallen out of use). 3) The leaders of Sho’cendi, the school of fire. Apologies to His Majesty for the needless complexity! SCHLUSS: Consists of strapping small sleds to the feet and going downhill on snow while standing, at incredible speeds. Either mythical or simply insane. SCREAMING WINDS: A Cenarian garrison in the Faltier mountains along the Khalidoran border; also a pass through the mountains, by the same name. SELLSWORD : A mercenary. SEQUOY: A giant tree that grows in the Iaosian Forest. Believed to be the most ancient growing things in the world. SESCH (sesh): The ‘game of kings,’ played on a board of alternating squares with various stone or wood pieces. Interestingly, despite that it is believed that women most often had tightly circumscribed roles in their society, the piece representing a woman is the most powerful in the game. SETH/SETHI (SETH/SETH ee): Seafaring people famous for sailing and red wines. Usually olive-skinned and brown-eyed. SETH (SETH): The Island Empire of Seth had mostly crumbled by this time, losing the last of its colonies in the recent past due to the disastrous leadership of Emperor Sijuron Tofusin. The country would be revived, but it never again could be called an empire. SHADOWCLOAKED/SHADOWSTRIDER: More names for the Night Angel. SHALAKROI: A position of great authority in Ladesh, said in the text to be roughly equivalent to a duke, earned by scoring among the top tier in the Ladeshian Civil Service examinations. A remarkable system that led to the most efficient governance of the ancient world.
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I swear if you define one more common term, I’ll burn this and you’ll rewrite it from the tower.
Didn’t the women go topless or something? I strongly suggest you add this.
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Brent Weeks SHINGA (SHING gah): Not Old Jaeran, but said elsewhere to
mean, “The Judge.” The head of the Sa’kagé. SHIV: A sharpened piece of metal, a makeshift knife. SHO’CENDI (show KEND ee): “The School of Fire.” Home of the Sa’seuri or Sa’seuran, the Lords of Fire, the fire mages. Also a term for the mage pyramid in Modai. SHU’RA (SURE ah): A rank or differentiation of either Khalidoran magic or Khalidoran society or both. Vürdmeisters are always above the seventh (?), but no consensus exists on how many shu’ra there are. One former wytch claimed to have been of the fourteenth shu’ra. Many mages find this claim dubious, believing that the highest rank attainable is the 12th—except for the God king, who is the sole member of the 13th. SIDLIN MARKET: The primary market in Cenaria City. SIDLIN WAY: A major arterial on the east side of Cenaria City. SKONE: The eastern capital of Alitaera. SLAVEBORN: Children either born to slave parents, or raised in the ‘baby farms’ and thus slaves themselves. So delicately put for SLEKKED: Khalidoran, an obscene form of sodomized, i.e., in a one so intimately bad position. familiar with it. THE SNAKE OF HARAN/LADESH: Snake with seven heads, legendary. SWORD FORMS: ALATHEA’S WAKING BOULDERS FALLING DRIPPING WATER GABEL’S GAME GARON’S STAND GORAMOND’S DIVE HADEN’S GLORY HARANI BULLS HERON’S HUNT KEVAN’S BLUNDER KIRIAE’S CROUCH KNOT LOOSED MANY WATERS MORNING SHADOWs PRAAVEL’S DEFENSE SYDIE’S WRATH
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N igh t A nge l THREE DAISIES THREE MOUNTAIN CASTLE TWO TIGERS VALDÉ DOCCI: The Swordsman Withdraws YRMI’S BOUT ZHEL POSTO: A fighter’s stance for keeping balance and
Huh? With your burly physique and natural grace, somehow I expected you to know a lot agility on slick ground. SYMBELINE WEAVE: A magical construction with 84 variations; about this, Laerin.
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requires perfect timing, structure, and vocal intonation. It became slang for something incredibly difficult. TANTO: A short, straight blade for punching through armor. TLAXINI MAELSTROM: Said to have been created when Gaelan Starfire threw the blue ka’kari into the sea. TORRAS BEND : A small town in northwest Waeddryn; three days horse ride north of the Silver Hills. A few hundred paces from Ezra’s wood. Six hundred years before this narrative, Ezra created/captured the Dark Hunter and brought it to the wood that would be named after him. He began experiments. Soon thereafter, the Talented children of Torras Bend began disappearing, sometimes with blood left behind, the bodies apparently devoured. No one knows what happened, but eventually the Talented children stopped dying. At the time of this narrative, going into the wood was still believed to result in death for anyone, Talented or not. TRAYETHELL (TRAY ah thell): 1) One of the Seven Kingdoms that eventually became part of the Shining Lands, 2) the capital of that kingdom, 3) the king of that kingdom, 4) a sword representative of the rule of Traythell. Became the site of Black Barrow, and the fall of Jorsin Alkestes. TREMATIR (TRA mot ter): The Sa’kagé’s Master of Coin. See NINE, THE. TYGRE TOWER/BERTOLD’S TOWER: A tower of the Khalidoran capital/castle/cave complex (say that five times fast!), an unheated basalt obscenity that looks on the verge of toppling in a high wind. UNDERLORD : A LAE’KNAUGHT rank, a general. No more is known about this. UNGERT (UNG urt/un GIRT): The family prefers the former, but the latter pronunciation persists, accompanied by the same three or four puns those with unfortunate names must always suffer.
More. The sea sucking in ships and then exploding water out? Exciting. EX-CIT-ING, Laerin. More death, more explosions, more magic, more breasts. This is not challenging.
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The king is not familiar with the phrase “girding up one’s loins.” Attempts at humor don’t fit you. Please stop.
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Brent Weeks UURDTHAN (oo URD thawn): “Winnowing, or Harrowing” a
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mission given to a Khalidoran prince in contention for the throne. Those who failed were killed. VANDEN: The bridge separating the impoverished Warrens of Cenaria from the richer east side of the city. VESTACCHI LAKE: A lake in Ossein on which the statue-school of the Chantry floated. At the confluence of two rivers. VIR (VEER): 1) The black markings on a wytch’s arms, 2) The force or spirit that gives a wytch power. (More information redacted at the insistence of the Chamberlain.) VOS ISLAND: an island in Cenaria City formed by the natural barrier of the Plith River. Cenaria Castle, the Stacks, and the Maw are all located on this small piece of rock. VÜRDMEISTER (VOO URD my STIR): A wytch above the tenth (the cursed) shu’ra. (In Khalidoran, the umlauted u is a dipthong pronounced as one syllable, VOO URD should be pronounced Yawn. together, even as the word ‘fire’ is FIE ER, but is fit into one syllable.) VY’SANA (VEE ZAHN ah): “Shaper of the Earth,” a Maker. A brown mage. The Vy’sani school is in Ossein, on the far side of Lake Vestacchi from the Chantry. WAEDDRYN (WAYTH rin): A country east of Ceura and south east of Cenaria. Its ruler is a queen and has been for twenty-one generations. Its capital was the prosperous Caernarvon. No longer a military power as the queens had been unable to expel the Lae’knaught from their nominal borders. WAKIZASHI (WALK eh ZAHSH ee): A short, curving sword, similar in shape to a longer katana, and often paired with one. THE WARRENS: The poor half (geographically, it housed far more than half in terms of population) of Cenaria City, on the western How about you side of the Plith. So named because there were main streets, and spice this one up a it was almost impossible for outsiders to traverse. bit? “The first wetboy was…” It WETBOY: A professional assassin with magical abilities, so named needn’t be strictly for blood they spill. Tools of Sa’kagé. historical, Laerin. WHITECLIFF CASTLE: The home of the Sethi royalty. A jewel of the ancient world, crafted at unbelievable expense from white marble—all of which would have had to be shipped from distant ports. Still standing and now maintained by the Sivalti Order, who are in a century-long effort to raise the money to restore the stained glass ceiling. Now a library.
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N igh t A nge l WYRMS: Not dragons, which are of course mythical, but a magical The king likes
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manifestation of some sort called (created?) by Vürdmeisters. WYTCH: Indistinguishable in our language from the word ‘witch’, though a native Khalidoran speaker could tell whether one were a foreigner or native speaker by one’s pronunciation of it. Little is known definitively, as southern scholars have not fared well when traveling to lands occupied by wytches, namely Lodricar and the greater empire of Khalidor. What is known is that wytches wield magic that mages grudgingly admit is more powerful than mages’ magic—some mages say many times more powerful. The magic has something to do with the ki, black, intricate markings all wytches grow (paint? tattoo?) on their arms. Because wytches didn’t suffer the diaspora thaumaturgica, they have maintained a line to the knowledge of the ancients. The schools of mages have mounted many missions over the centuries to try to recover books or artifacts. None have returned. Indeed, some such expeditions seem to have been commanded in order to rid schools of certain trouble makers. YMMUR (eem MOO ER): Though those latter two are a dipthong—Far eastern country north of Friaku, more mountainous than Friaku, though plains comprise half of the country. YUSHAI (YOU shy): Khalidoran term: life and fire, and steel and joy of living. Believed to be applied mainly or solely to young women.
dragons. Just something to consider.
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A pity we have no such recourse.
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Erase all geographical references. The king doesn’t care about them except that the pronunciations are standardized so that when his bards read him the story they all say it the same way, otherwise he gets confused. We’ll include a map for him. Don’t know much about seeds and roots, do you? The proper plural for ignoramus is “ignoramuses,” not ignorami. It’s derived from ignoro, the perfect passive participle of which is ignoratus, one who has been ignored. As you obviously can’t tell the difference between a noun in the nominative and a first conjugation verb in the first person, plural, indicative, I suppose that makes you an ignoramus. And from henceforth, an ignoratus. As a third draft of this glossary is now necessary (no one calls them glosses anymore, Laerin, no one), the price of this copy will be deducted from 1211
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Brent Weeks your wages. If my calculations are correct, that leaves you owing the king 400 tol. I noticed at least one glaring factual error. I would have thought a scholar of your caliber would be more fastidious. Enjoy looking for it. Can I expect the final, corrected draft tomorrow? —Jor Baaden, the King’s Chamberlain
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